


first dates and courtship rituals

by allp_wips



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-05-14 11:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19272346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allp_wips/pseuds/allp_wips
Summary: Alex finds out that Astra has never been on a real date.





	first dates and courtship rituals

Alex has been seeing Astra for more than a year when she finds out, through a passing remark that Kara makes when drunk, that Astra has never been on a proper date.

 

“What?” She looks at Kara disbelievingly over her own - still nearly full for a change, even though it’s her first of the night - glass. “Never? Was everyone on your planet blind? Have you  _ seen _ Astra?”

 

Kara makes a face over her own glass of offworld spirits. “Eww, don’t talk about my aunt like that in front of me. Anyways, it wasn’t about that on Krypton, it was more about, like-” she waves her arms about fuzzily “- _ status.” _

 

Alex wrinkles her nose. “What status?”

 

“No, like  _ status  _ status,” Kara says, waving her arms around again, like she’s saying something obvious. “Astra was an aberration from the Codex, see, so she didn’t get many suitors. Non was the only one who was even borderline acceptable, and my grandparents married her off to him when they were pretty young, before Astra could really refuse.”

 

Alex scowls, and is about to make a cutting remark about Krypton’s family values, when she realizes that it’s not really fair or sensitive to Kara, even drunk off her ass as her sister presently is.

 

Still, the issue sticks in her mind. When she goes home that night, she surprises Astra by kissing her a little harder than usual, when the Kryptonian returns from her patrol, and making love to her a little more intensely than usual, and refusing to let go of her for the rest of the night, even though they usually sleep on opposite ends of the bed.

 

The thing is, her and Astra just sort kind of stumbled into being lovers, what with being thrown together so much because of their connection to Kara, and due to them working against the same threats so often. Now that Alex thinks about it, they’ve never really gone on a proper date or anything. The closest they’ve come is when Astra decides impromptu to take her to some place that she thinks Alex will like, like the time they flew all the way up and across the Rockies, or the time they saw the northern lights, or the time Astra flew her to the Griffith observatory. 

 

But, an actual planned date? Never.

 

The next day, Alex begins planning.

 

\---

 

She reserves a table in National City’s only revolving restaurant the following week. It’s built on the tallest floor of a towering skyscraper, giving them the best view of the city, and Alex has heard rave reviews about the food too. 

 

She picks Astra up on her Ducati, and is rewarded by a rare sight of the woman in a dress, a backless glittering one that takes Alex’s breath away. 

 

They get to the restaurant on time, the appetizer is amazing, everything is perfect.

 

Until Supergirl crashes through the window, fighting a Qvarrian that is currently almost getting the better of her, and shouting out a warning to the two of them that National City is about to be invaded by said species.

 

\--

 

Alex tries again two months later. They’re not picking up anything on their signals about any large-scale attack or anything, this time. No red flags whatsoever. In fact, if anything, there seems to be a lull in National City’s extraterrestrial-related crime activity, so Alex thinks it’s the perfect time to plan another date.

 

This time, she ropes in Cat Grant to make them reservations at the most exclusive restaurant in National City. This time, it's Astra who picks Alex up, both of them in black formal wear, although Astra has opted for the whole tuxedo combo, whereas Alex has ditched the suit in favour of a plain shirt and black suspenders. Once again, it's perfect.

 

This time, they make it through both the appetizer and main course, before a panicked call from Brainy comes in just before they get their desert order, informing them that the DEO desert base has been breached.

 

Turns out the lull in National City's crime activity was due to Roulette's gang teaming up with the Agents of Liberty to break into the DEO and empty out their weapons cache, à la "the enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally."

 

\---

 

The third time, Alex chooses an out-of-the-way diner in the suburbs of the city, and grabs Astra on her way out of the DEO after a routine mission, giving her barely time to dress up, before they make the short flight to said diner.

 

"Are you alright?" Astra asks, as they work through their - albeit delicious, for such an underrated place - food. "You keep looking out of the window."

 

"Yeah," Alex says, trying to tear her vigilant eye away from the window and back to her date. She grabs Astra's free hand, and runs a soothing thumb over the back it. "I'm fine. Love you."

 

Astra's eyes crinkle in that soft way that Alex loves, and loves even more because very few people other than her get to see it so frequently.

 

"Eat your dinner," Astra says. "You've barely touched your plate, you’ve been so distracted.”

 

Alex smiles sheepishly, and goes back to her food. She’s just digging into the chicken, savouring the taste of something that isn’t the bland DEO cafeteria food for once, when the sounds of a commotion reach her ears, and her fork stills in her hand.

"Ugh." She won’t look, she won’t look, she won’t look. She’s here on a date with Astra, not to solve somebody else’s bloody problems.

 

The commotion grows louder. With a defeated sigh, Alex looks up, realizing that Astra is already staring at the source of it. Up at the pay counter, a patron seems to be dissatisfied with his bill, waving it in the face of the unimpressed bar owner.

 

Alex watches with disbelieving eyes, as one of the patrons pulls out a photon blaster and aims it at the owner. Looking unfazed, the owner pulls out his own phaser gun from behind the counter, and points it right back at the patron.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alex says, taking her badge out, and palming her gun. “Alright, FBI, everybody freeze!”

 

\---

 

Between subduing the two men, making sure all the frazzled diners go home okay, dealing with the NCPD, and returning to the DEO to file out the needed paperwork, it takes hours to deal with what should have been a simple collar. 

 

As the director, Alex takes the brunt of the needs of bureaucracy. By the end of it all, she’s flagging, leaning on Astra’s shoulders to keep from stumbling.

 

“I’m sorry,” she mutters, when they’re finally alone, and on their way out of the DEO.

 

Astra looks at her with surprise. “For what?”

 

“For-” Alex gestures frustratedly around them. “-For all this! I wanted to give you a proper date, for once! And instead, it keeps getting ruined.”

 

Astra blinks down at her, an odd expression on her face. “Is that why you were so insistent on arranging all those outings? Because you wanted me to experience a... ‘date’?”

  
  


“Kara told me you never had something like that,” Alex says. “After all the stuff you’ve arranged for me- I mean, I just wanted to do something like that for you. You deserve a proper... um... courtship, I think that’s what Kara told me it’s called, on Krypton.”

 

Astra keeps blinking down at her, until a light seems to go on in her eyes. She curls an arm around Alex, and they take off into the night, landing a fair distance away, in the middle of the national park lands.

 

“What are you-” Alex asks, only for Astra to cut her off with a kiss to her forehead.

 

“Wait here.”

 

A few minutes later, she returns, carrying two paper bags of food.

 

Alex squints. “Is that from the taco truck downtown? I thought he’d have closed up by now.”

 

"He was just about to, but he was willing to make an exception for you," Astra says. "I remembered how much you like them."

 

She passes one bag to Alex, and they sit on the hill, staring at the scenery ahead and the stars above, while they finish off the food.

 

“I remember Kara mentioning that there is supposed to be a meteor shower tonight,” Astra remarks. “Perhaps we’ll catch it.”

 

Alex nods drowsily, her head nodding onto Astra’s shoulder. This, she thinks, must be bliss.

 

“Alex?” Astra asks, after a few minutes of peaceful silence.

 

“Mm?”

 

“This is the perfect date,” Astra says, exhaling weightily. “With you, away from the noise and clutter of the city... this is all I want. Thank you for giving it to me.”

 

Alex beams. Setting aside her last taco, she captures Astra around the waist with both arms.

 

“In that case, get ready for  _ so  _ many more hiking weekends than you signed up for, general.”

 

\---

 


End file.
